The chief constable of Northamptonshire Police today said he had been 'let down' by his solicitor as the Court of Appeal imposed a fine of £50,000 for contempt of court.
Ivan Balhatchet was last week found to be in contempt over his force's failure to comply with a court order to supply body-worn camera footage. Giving judgment following a half-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice today, Lord Justice Fraser said that ‘the extent of the breaches of two orders of the court, firstly the county court and also the Court of Appeal, do require sanction in addition to the mere finding of contempt’.
At this morning’s hearing, the chief constable stood and apologised to businesswoman Nadine Buzzard-Quashie, whose complaint prompted the debacle at the county court and the Court of Appeal.
The judgment noted that in the chief constable’s statement ‘he considered that he had been let down by the solicitor acting for him in terms of compliance with the deadline for service of his statement on 5 November 2025’.
Particular aggravating features of the order breaches included that it ‘has continued over such a very long period, both before and after the first hearing in the Court of Appeal; and also, directly inaccurate and incorrect statements have been made repeatedly by a number of personnel over that long period’, said Lord Justice Fraser, with whom Lord Justice Coulson and Lady Justice Asplin agreed. A fine of £50,000 'properly reflects the gravity of the situation, whilst taking account of the fact that the funds for it will have to be provided out of the existing budget of the Northamptonshire Police Force'.’
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The judge told a packed Court 71 that statements which were ‘served so late’ on behalf of the chief constable made clear that a decision was taken during the week of 9 November ‘that a new solicitor was required to represent and advise the chief constable and instruct counsel’ with Simon Staples being replaced by Malcolm Turner and ‘an entirely fresh approach has been required which has included entirely new personnel to provide evidence to the court on the chief constable’s behalf’.
He added: ‘The imposition of a further sanction is undoubtedly called for, in order to reflect the seriousness of this matter.’
Following judgment, Lady Justice Asplin said: ‘May I also say thank you to everyone who has appeared before us, particularly those who appeared pro bono. I am not seeking to diminish those in the front row but those in the second row and behind have done an enormous amount of work which ought to be recognised.’
She also acknowledged Nadine Buzzard-Quashie’s ‘tenacity, resilience and determination’. Buzzard-Quashie was arrested in 2021 by three officers but never charged.
